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Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 07:55:17 +0300
From: "Wilkie, R. Cliff"
Subject: Big Rivers are OK by me.

In answer to Anita's question, I don't think there is much advantage to
buying the replacement reed plates although they are a little thicker. The
Big Rivers are cheaper than the reed plates and you wind up with an entire
harmonica that you can modify into whatever tuning or key you want it to be.
Big Rivers sound great. They are not my favorite, but I have a few that I
play and I like the way they sound.

I play a variety of harps and think some people get more obsessed with fixin
the harp than with playing the harp. I noticed on a Charlie McCoy video
that he did the entire video with a cheap Hohner. (I forget the model) Hey
it sounds great and if its good enough for his video I think that says
something about how the emphasise needs to be on how you play it rather than
which harp you use.

I doubt Little Walter was as concerned about harps, tunings and amplifiers
as many harmonica players trying to imitate him. The Marine Band was about
all that was available not that long ago, so that's what he played. Its
also what everybody else played. Some made it sound better than others.

I spend more time than I like tuning and fiddling with my harps. I would
much rather play the thing than fiddle around with it. There is an awful
lot of adjusting of your playing as you go. It seems you unconciously
compensate for differences in sounds of different harps, and turn what you
got into the music you want.

Big River harps tend to have huge gaps so you have to play them kinda hard
straight of the box. It helps a lot to fine tune them, but they can be made
to sound great straight out of the box.

Guitars are far more instrument dependent than harmonicas. It is very
difficult to make a cheap guitar sound good. Buying a good guitar always
improves ones playing since it is so much easier to play and has a much more
pleasant sound. Harmonicas aren't quite like that. Certainly there are
differences and I have my favorites. Really cheap harmonicas are
impossible, but anything from the Big River line and better can be made to
sound good without a whole lot of extra effort or experience.

Cliff

> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 10:09:19 -0500
> From: "Denis Aldrich"
> Subject: re: Big River and MS: need opinions
>
> I have wanted to make comment about the BR's for sometime.
> There had been some "bad press" about in the past.
> I use the BR happily and do like to modify for optimal performance.
> I work over every BR I get. I emboss the slots and gap for
> overblows. Pretty
> much every thing I do is to the reed plate and reeds.
> Now some people are very unhappy about the tuning gouges
> found on the BR's.
> I find the gouges to be no problem at all. I get great
> response from the
> reeds after I do my tricks. The cross scratches may reduce
> the endurance of
> the reed, but again, I have not any problem with this either.
> This is only
> a cosmetic problem for me and only cause me alarm on this point.
>
> When I can, I replace the reed plates with the thicker style
> plates. I then
> do my tricks to these plates. After this I don't notice a
> great volume
> change between the two plates. What I do notice is more stable
> overblows/bends. These are really smooth.
>
> Now, for a beginner/intermediate, I would definitely regap
> the BR's, as they
> can be leaky from the high gaps. Lowering the gaps make mine
> very playable.
> The embossing makes my overblows/bends much better.
>
> I have started setting up BR's or any MS harp for money. I
> have seen others
> choose to do every other little thing to a harp to correct
> any and all
> manufacturing problems. I don't find this cost effective for
> me. I only
> gap/emboss and apply lip balm to the comb for a seal.
> I put less time into the harp then and charge less
> accordingly. I get a
> harp that is very playable and if a reed fatigues, then a new
> reed plate and
> a little work gets things back to normal or better if the old
> reed plates
> were original.
>
> I do like the miesterklass aluminum combs and would like to
> use these combs
> on the BR's, but the MS is only modular in name, as hohner hasn't
> made the combs purchasable by themselves. These combs I have
> to sand to
> take out the machine marks that are left in during manufacturing.
> I do hope Hohner is listening.
>
> Any way this is my take on the BR's and I find them to be
> quite workable for
> my playing.
> Denis (save the wail, Reed my lips) Aldrich
>
> - ---------------------------------------
> From: Anita Nalley
>
> May be shopping for new harp: need opinion from casual and beginning
> players. Off line answers welcome.
>
> I know Big River is supposed to be modular. Cost of Big
> River, however, is
> very low---just about the cost of the replacement plates. Is
> there any
> point of my ordering replacement plates, vs. just buying a
> new harp. Is it
> the same quality as the replacements for the up-scale Horner
> harps (is there
> a chance the sound of a Big River will improve?)
>
> OK, dumb question. Let the answers fly.
> And hopefully, will be able to start posting from home again.
>
> Anita, Northern California
> - ----------------------------
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of harp-l-digest V8 #172
> ****************************
>